When a vehicle in which an output power of an internal combustion engine is transmitted to drive wheels via an automatic transmission and a torque converter having a lockup clutch performs coast running in which an accelerator pedal is not depressed, a known driving force control in which the lockup clutch is unlocked and a fuel supply to the internal combustion engine is prevented may be applied to suppress fuel consumption.
When a rotation speed of the internal combustion engine decreases as a result of interrupting fuel supply, fuel supply to the internal combustion engine is resumed. Herein, prevention of the fuel supply to the internal combustion engine is so-called a “fuel-cut,” and resumption of fuel supply to the internal combustion engine is so-called a “fuel recovery” or simply a “recovery.”
In order to prevent a difference of timings between a fuel recovery operation and a lockup clutch unlocking operation from generating a torque shock, JP 2006-15819 A, published by The Japan Patent Office in 2006, proposes to perform a regenerative braking at the time of the fuel recovery operation.